Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Dan Savage calls it likes he sees it. In this comparison, he is completely correct. Anyone willing to vote for a candidate that actively works to deny you your rights is self-loathing. It is the same self-loathing, CAUSED by homophobia, that results in drug, alcohol and sex abuse that occurs at higher rates in Gays & Lesbians.

It's not that self-hatred in many gay people causes personally-destructive behavior. It's that the external hatred all gay people have to endure—discrimination, oppression, bigotry, and rejection by family members poisoned by "faith"—can lead to substance abuse, punishing sexual excess, and suicide. Being gay doesn't damage us. It's the way we are treated for being gay that leaves many of us damaged. Johann Hari said it best:

Being subjected to bullying and violence as children and teenagers makes gay people unusually vulnerable to depression and despair. The homophobes then use that depression and despair to claim that homosexuality is inherently a miserable state—and we shouldn’t do anything that might “encourage" it. They create misery, and then use it as a pretext to create even more misery.